12 Strong

"The declassified true story of the horse soldiers"

2018 2h 10m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 3,273

WarActionHistory

Synopsis

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A team of special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.

“The declassified true story of the horse soldiers”

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Cast

Chris Hemsworth
Mitch Nelson
Michael Shannon
Hal Spencer
Michael Peña
Sam Diller
Navid Negahban
General Dostum
Trevante Rhodes
Ben Milo
Geoff Stults
Sean Coffers
Thad Luckinbill
Vern Michaels
Austin Stowell
Fred Falls

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nicolai Fuglsig
Writers: Ted Tally, Peter Craig, Sam Tung
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CAST

Did you know

269+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, shot by Rasmus Videbæk. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Lorne Balfe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lisa Lassek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon and Michael Peña carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The declassified true story of the horse soldiers".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1413492 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nicolai Fuglsig directs. Rasmus Videbæk behind the camera. Lorne Balfe scores. Lisa Lassek cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 8 years ago.
2269+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
3Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, shot by Rasmus Videbæk. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Lorne Balfe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Lisa Lassek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon and Michael Peña carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The declassified true story of the horse soldiers".
8IMDB entry: tt1413492 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "central intelligence agency (cia)", "based on novel or book", "afghanistan", "based on true story".
10Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Rasmus Videbæk
Original score: Lorne Balfe
Editing: Lisa Lassek
Production design: Christopher Glass
Costume design: Daniel J. Lester
Makeup / hair: Jerrad Gray
VFX supervisor: Roger Nall
Sound: Beau Borders
Stunt coordinator: Mic Rodgers
Runtime: 130 min · 2h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $35,000,000
Box office: $67,450,815
Return: 193% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: 12 Strong (2018)

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2018-06-26
★ 5/10
Not really my sort of thing, but I can't go so far as to say that it's "bad". It's a little formulaic and it's a lot American patriotic (ironic given that the star is Australian), but it's... I guess "professional" is the word that best suits it? I wouldn't begrudge the target market for enjoying 12 Strong is what I'm saying. Final rating:★★½ - Not quite for me, but I definitely get the appeal.
AstroNoud2022-01-15
★ 8/10
In every aspect a decent war film with a story worth telling. Too bad the cast doesn’t get to shine enough, but the technical aspect, the score and the fact that it's based on a true story still make ‘12 Strong’ worth a watch or two. 8/10
tmdb280390232022-09-07
★ 1/10
It’s a bitter irony that 12 Strong was released only three years before Kabul fell faster than Kevin Spacey’s career. Then again, this movie has as much to do with the war in Afghanistan as the Arab uprising has to do with Lawrence of Arabia — which is exactly where director Nicolai Fuglsig and screenwriters Ted Tally and Peter Craig seem to have gotten their idea of General Dostum (Navid Negahban), whom they have filtered through George C. Scott's Patton, and given a Historical Hero Upgrade. Generally speaking, the film lives in its very own fantasy world. Granted, most movies take liberties, but what 12 Strong does is more akin to libertinage. It purports to depict "one of the US military's most stunning achievements," which Al Quaeda "considers ... to be their worst defeat." The former... sure, why not? As for the latter, though, Al Quaeda may or may not consider it its "worst defeat," but even if they did, methinks they wouldn’t be caught dead admitting it, so the question is, who exactly is your source? Furthermore, we learn that the real-life General Dostum and Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) "remain close friends to this day" — which means that you’re never too old to have an imaginary friend, what with Mitch Nelson being a fictional character and all (based on Green Beret commander Mark Nutsch, who I assume had the good sense to not want to be associated with this dumpster fire).